Over the past few years, pre-paid cards, such as local and long distance phone cards, cellular phone cards, Internet access cards, metro cards, gas cards, gift cards, and debit cards, have become increasingly popular as a convenient way to pay for services and/or products. Pre-paid cards are similar in appearance to credit cards, but unlike credit cards, pre-paid cards allow products and services to be purchased before being used. By way of example, pre-paid phone cards can be purchased in selected denominations, such as $10, $20, $50, etc., which can correspond to, for instance, 30 minutes, 60 minutes, or 150 minutes of local or long-distance calling time, respectively. Thus, the holder of the card can use services or purchase goods at any period of time, within the allocated credit balance. For cellular phone and Internet access cards, for example, the holder can make local and long distance telephone calls or access the Internet until the allocated credit runs out.
The front of a pre-paid card typically displays some type of logo and graphic image along with its corresponding amount of denomination. On the back side of the card, usually, a card number and personal identification number (PIN), or username and password are provided under an opaque surface coating which hides the information. After scratching the coating away (e.g., using a coin or other object), the revealed codes may be entered or utilized.
A common mode of distributing pre-paid cards is through the use of self-service card vending machines placed at desired locations, such as locations where customers are likely to need to make local, regional, or long-distance calls. For example, these machines are frequently located at airports, convenience stores, college student centers, and near pay telephones. When the seller of the pre-paid cards is collocated with the vending machine, such as in a convenience store, the pre-paid card provider can provide the pre-paid card seller with a batch of PIN numbers, and will charge the card seller a fee for activating those PIN numbers. In current dispensing machines, the PIN numbers on the pre-paid cards are typically activated at the time they are placed in the dispenser, because most customers use the pre-paid service immediately upon purchasing the card. This means that the pre-paid card seller has to purchase a large inventory of activated PIN numbers well before the cards are sold, thereby requiring the expenditure of significant capital by the seller. Also, because the vending machines contain a large supply of cards, all with activated PIN numbers, the pre-paid card vending machines are an attractive target for theft.
One way of overcoming the drawbacks of using pre-paid card vending machines is to provide the seller with a “smart” transaction terminal. In this arrangement, the seller uses the terminal to retrieve PIN numbers from a remote central database to provide the PIN numbers to the customer. One such “smart” point-of-sale (POS) terminal is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,651,885 to Arias (hereinafter the “Arias '885 Patent”). The POS terminal disclosed in the Arias '885 Patent communicates with a remote server, which consults a database for assigning a PIN. The server communicates with the POS terminal to print out a credit/debit paper card or receipt with the PIN imprinted thereon. However, such Point-of-sale systems require the installation of equipment at the seller's location, which can be costly for the seller.
Accordingly, what would be desirable, but has not yet been provided, is a PIN distribution system that can be used at any location and does not require the installation of special equipment.